Post A is located at the west end of the day use area, a short walk from the first main parking area and  adjacent to a set of vault toilets. If following the route in a clockwise direction and saving the best for last, heading east the trail can be a bit hard to pick up at first. Just head for Kent Lake as it closely skirts the shoreline in the dayuse area where caution is needed if conditions are wet or icy. Eventually the trail climbs away from the man-made lake and at Mile 0.9 reaches post I. The junction marks the paved path that continues north under I-96 to connect Island Lake with the paved trails in Kensington Metropark.

Hickory Ridge heads back into the woods and within a quarter of a mile crosses another paved pathway at post H. This is a spur of the Huron Valley Trail, a 12-mile rail-trail that extends to Lyons Oaks Metropark in one direction and South Lyons in the other.

Head right and Hickory Ridge stays in a second growth forest for the most part until it breaks out in open fields and meadows to reach Post G at Mile 2.4. Head left for a stretch of rolling terrain where you can see an unnamed lake to the east, then Trout Lake to the west and at one point both lakes at the same time from the crest of a ridge.

From there the trail descends sharply to the shoreline of Trout Lake and the wide gravel path that skirts it. If followed in a clockwise direction, you remain along the water and reach post C at Mile 3.7. Head north (left) at the junction to enter more open fields and cross the park’s paved path at post B and then the park road. On the other side of the road you enter the most interesting stretch of the day.

You’ll soon be passing some impressive pines and before the trail swings east and provides your first glimpse of the Huron River from the top of a river bluff. At Mile 4.6 you arrive at a bench positioned with a great view of the sluggish Huron below. You stay in the woods for the final leg of the loop until breaking out at the Kent Lake Dam and dayuse area.